


Icon-Missing Scene

by sg_wonderland



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode: s08e05 Icon, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 05:41:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15924035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sg_wonderland/pseuds/sg_wonderland
Summary: What happened after Daniel came home





	Icon-Missing Scene

General Jack O’Neill rolled his chair restlessly along the large panel of the control room. Sgt. Harriman thought about saying something, anything, but how did one reprimand one’s own commanding officer? Just when he opened his mouth to scold the general for yet again bumping into his chair, the board lit up beneath his hand.

“Incoming wormhole.” He announced calmly, trying to ignore the man who was currently hovering on his elbow.

“Who is it?”

“Haven’t gotten, oh wait, it’s SG-1’s ID, sir.”

O’Neill tapped the microphone. “Carter?”

“Yes, sir. One missing member of SG-1 successfully rescued. We’ll be sending him through the gate momentarily, sir.” Both men could hear a rapid conversation on the other side of the wormhole.

“Problem, Carter?”

“Sir, Daniel wants to stay awhile, help restore order…”

“But?”

“Commander Kane states that Daniel was seriously injured in the initial conflict but he...”

“Doesn’t think he needs to come to the infirmary? Is Teal’c close?”

“I am, O’Neill.”

“You have my permission to throw Daniel Jackson through the gate. Immediately.” O’Neill flipped off the mike, turning to Harriman. “Get a med team down here.”

*

Jack was waiting impatiently when Daniel – finally – walked through. Without hesitation, he walked up the ramp and squeezed the life out of his friend. “Jack?” Daniel muttered into Jack’s uniform shirt.

“Forgive us if we’re a little touchy-feely right now.” Jack stepped back so he could get a good look.

“Sam got touchy-feely right there in the bunker and Teal’c made eyes at anyone who stepped toward me.” Daniel griped without any real rancor but followed as Jack began towing him, by the borrowed leather jacket, out of the gate room. “I can’t believe you didn’t have a…” He stopped as the elevator opened to reveal a gurney surrounded by a fully-loaded med team. “I can walk, you know.”

Jack gently pushed Daniel into the elevator. “Six weeks, Daniel, just keep telling yourself that. I expect a report on him, soon as,” he warned the medics as the doors closed.

*

Much as he would have liked to have been in the infirmary, duty called so Jack wandered back to his office, sighing as he sat down in front of the paper-laden desk. This was one thing they didn’t tell you when they offered to make you ‘the man’. The paperwork simply never stopped. He pulled the top folder toward him and got to work.

He’d made a considerable dent in the stack when Carmichael finally tapped on his door. “What’s the verdict?” Jack leaned back wearily, gesturing toward a chair.

“He’s in surprisingly good shape, General, considering the injuries he finally admitted to receiving.”

“Such as?”

“Probable dislocation of left shoulder, concussion, serious facial injuries including significant trauma to the eyes. I’d like to have him see an ocular surgeon, just to satisfy myself that there isn’t any underlying damage.”

“Make the appointment.” Jack instructed him. “Got off pretty light, didn’t he?”

“Considering the amount of trauma I believe he suffered, he’s damned lucky. As for when I can release him for active duty…”

“I can imagine what Daniel’s opinion of that was.”

“In a perfect world, General, I would ground him for several weeks. However, I know that isn’t possible. So I’m going to recommend that we wait to hear the surgeon’s opinion.” Carmichael smiled slightly. “Of course, I’m not going to be able to get him an immediate appointment, since this isn’t an emergency.”

Jack chuckled. “You’ve been around this place too long, Doc, you’re starting to get devious.”

“I do advise that Dr. Jackson see his primary eye physician; they may need to change his prescription after this injury. And, of course, he is not cleared to operate a motor vehicle.” Carmichael rose and headed for the door. “If you can get him to go home, sir, that would be a big help.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

*

“Jack, my office has to be…”

“Don’t care, Daniel. Another couple of days isn’t going to make any difference. Your staff has tried to keep up so there shouldn’t be anything pressing. I’ve got an airman to drive you home; you still got your key to my house?”

“I’d rather go to my…” Daniel frowned suddenly. “Oh, please tell me you didn’t sell my house?”

Jack phftted. “Come on, we learned our lesson the first couple of times. Truth is your house could probably use a good cleaning. Go to my house, crash in the guest room and I’ll see if Helen can squeeze you in tomorrow. We’ll get you some groceries and you can go home in a couple of days. How’s that?” He refrained from pointing out that Daniel looked beyond exhausted.

“Sam and Teal’c…”

“Are fine. Just wrapping up some loose ends. Your driver’s waiting in the briefing room. Go home, Daniel. I’ll try to get there by dinnertime.”

*

Daniel was exactly where Jack thought he’d be, in the guest room, buried under the covers. Jack barely talked himself out of pulling the covers down, just to make sure it was really Daniel under there and not a figment of his imagination. Trailing out to the kitchen, he couldn’t help the smile that sneaked across his face. The coffeemaker was set to warm, even though nearly half the pot was gone. There was an empty cereal bowl in the sink and a few crumbs of toast on the counter. 

He’d stopped and grabbed the makings for spaghetti sauce; it could simmer until Daniel was awake and it wouldn’t take long to cook the pasta and bake the garlic bread. The doorbell interrupted him and he found Helen, his house-cleaner on the stoop. 

He hunted out his emergency key to Daniel’s house, wrote her a check for the cleaning she promised would be done by Thursday. Worked out pretty good, Jack thought, since it gave Daniel a couple of days to rest. Of course, it wouldn’t take him quite that long to figure out that Carmichael had banned him from actually doing any real work until the ocular surgeon cleared him. 

Jack found himself looking forward to the impending argument.

*

Just as he’d thought, the smell of the simmering sauce woke Daniel. Together, the two of them finished cooking and Jack managed not to burn the garlic bread, always a danger, Daniel couldn’t help but point out.

Afterward, Daniel took his wine and Jack brought a beer to slouch on the living room couch. “So,” Daniel took a sip, “what did I miss?”

“Oh, not much. I’ve managed not to piss off too many folks at the Pentagon.”

“I can’t believe they still let you all look for me, after all this time.”

“You can thank the good General Hammond for that one. He repeatedly pounded it into the Pentagon bean counters that you were far too valuable an asset to simply write off. Plus, there is your record of turning up alive and well after most folks have given up on you.”

“You couldn’t know I was still alive.”

“Daniel,” Jack sounded slightly exasperated. “After you got hurt, how long before you were up and trying to contact us? If there’s one thing I do know about you is that you never give up.”

“I could say the same thing about you.” Daniel wandered over to futz with the fire.

“Shows what you know. I’ve given up plenty of times.”

“Jack!” Daniel frowned. “That’s not true.”

“Oh, let me count the ways. Gave up when Carter and I got popsicled. Gave up when I turned into my own grandpa. Gave up on Edora. Gave up when Nem poked around in our memories.” He paused, took a healthy drink. “Gave up on you.”

“No,” Daniel curled up on the floor facing him. “You’ve never given up on me.”

“I did when you asked me to, I told Jacob to stop. I’d call that giving up.”

“Jacob couldn’t save me, you know that. Even if he’d somehow managed to heal me, what was left wouldn’t have been….any kind of a life. That one doesn’t count.” Daniel argued.

“So the rest of them do?”

Daniel sighed. “You tried as long and as hard as you could, you and Sam both did when you were in Antarctica. The aging thing messed with your brain function so you weren’t really yourself. You didn’t give up on Edora, you learned to adapt. Nem screwed with all our brains, including mine. So those don’t count, either.” 

“You know, I once called Teal’c a stubborn SOB. Now I’m thinking I might have gotten the wrong team member there.”

“Yeah,” Daniel adopted his most innocent look. “Sam can be pretty single-minded.”

“I’ll tell her you said that.” Jack threatened as he climbed the steps for another beer.

“Yeah, ‘cause I’m so afraid of Sam.”

“I’ll tell her that, too.”

Daniel was sitting in the floor, his back up against the sofa when Jack returned. They sat in silence for a long time. “So, anything I need to know that’s not going in your report?”

“Such as?” Daniel deliberately kept his face turned away.

“You were gone a long time, I’m just asking. The woman who took care of you, Kane’s wife…”

“Leda.” Daniel provided.

“Nice woman?” Jack prodded.

“Very nice, very stoic, considering what they’d been through.”

“Like to meet her, thank her for taking care of you.”

“She…they took me to a family estate out in the country before Kane went back to the city, see if he could do anything.”

“So it was just you and Leda there?”

“Yeah, for about three weeks.” Daniel closed his eyes. “I didn’t sleep with her, Jack.”

“Didn’t say you did.” But Jack could tell there was more that Daniel wasn’t telling him. “And you need to tell me only if it affected the mission in any way. Otherwise, none of my business.”

There was a long pause. “She was married, Jack.”

They both knew that would have been a deal-breaker for Daniel. He didn’t do casual and he didn’t sleep with married women. It was why Kera hadn’t gotten any more than a few kisses before Daniel had bolted. “You don’t have to tell me, Daniel. But if you want to talk about it, I think it goes without saying that nothing leaves this room.”

“I wanted to sleep with her, Jack, I really, really wanted to.”

Jack could picture it. A lonely, vulnerable woman, left alone on a quiet farm for weeks at a time. A haunted, wounded stranger, someone who had risked his life for her people. 

Yeah, it had all the makings of a movie of the week. “You were hurt and scared and alone and not sure you were ever going home again. You’re human, Daniel. Admitting to some honest human feelings doesn’t make you a bad guy.”

“Sleeping with married women doesn’t make you a good one, either.”

“But you didn’t sleep with her. I take it she wouldn’t have objected.”

Daniel kept his face turned away. “I think… I think she’d been alone a long time and they were in the middle of the war and she was…tempted.”

Jack nodded. “Happens a lot in wartime, Daniel. That’s a fact. Do me a favor? Give yourself some time to get used to being back home. Step back and take a few deep breaths.”

Daniel swung around to face him. “I know we’re sending some humanitarian aid; I’d like to go back with the team.”

“Carmichael isn’t going to clear you for active duty.” Jack warned.

“It isn’t active duty.”

“It’s a planet that still could erupt into civil war. It’s too unstable, Daniel, and you aren’t a hundred percent. So, no, you can’t go.”

“What if Dr. Carmichael clears me?” Daniel followed Jack into the kitchen.

“Your commanding officer is still saying no. Good night, Daniel, sleep tight.”


End file.
